Yo, DJ, Pump This Party 📀📀

I know I haven't written about this in awhile, but rest assured I'm still in DJ school. I think I have a harder time writing about it because it's so incredibly important to me. Out of everything I'm currently doing, and out of everything I'm going to do, this is really my dream. All roads for me lead to standing in a corner in a little club/ bar in Brooklyn, just playing music that is meaningful to me. Showing people a good time, making them move, making them feel. Helping them leave their lives at the door, and just release into lyrics and melody.

I get so lost in my music, whether I'm working out, cooking, or standing on a line. I can be in traffic forever (except if I have to go to the bathroom😝) as long as I can hear music I love. My headphones instantly create an invisible force field around me. I feel all tension in my body melt. Being a giving natured person who has tapped into her need and love to share, it makes perfect sense that I'd want to give others the same musical experience.

A DJ friend of mine recently told me that sometimes after a gig, people will just come up to him and hug him. I GET THAT COMPLETELY. Music is one of the most visceral, honest gifts we have in the world. It has the power to unite people across the globe, in all walks of life. Music doesn't judge. It cares not about your emotional issues, your weight, or your financial status. It loves you and will hold you up if you are dying, or have suicidal thoughts. It sheps nachas as you kiss someone for the first time. It memorializes and celebrates your life throughout every single moment. It's there for you if you are deaf. Through heavy beats and sign language, it finds its way into your body, though maybe not your ears. It pumps us up and calms us down. I could not live without it. Could not.

Like all things that excite me, my love for a heavy beat and a brilliant, or even just an honest, lyric are meant to be transmitted. A great DJ has the ability to heal and spread joy. Oh man, I can't wait for that. I won't care whether or not two people are listening, or two hundred. If I feel what I'm playing, then I will go to bed happy that night. I feel this way when I write. If I write something I'm proud of, then the process stops there. It doesn't matter how many hits, likes, or views it gets. It's gratifying enough putting out something of quality. If you shoot your arrow in the right direction with the right intention, it will land properly.

One of my favorite things about this particular journey is all the really nice people I've met at school. I see my instructors at Scratch every week. I love the encouraging, supportive, educational, and FUN vibe they consistently send me. It feels great how much they're rooting for me. IT IS HOW EVERYONE SHOULD TREAT EACH OTHER AT ALL TIMES. Recently I dragged SF, the Bert to my Ernie, clubbing in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Um, we came home at 6:30 am. It was wild. We felt like Thelma and Louise, minus the part about killing someone and covering it up. There's always next time!

We went to see a couple of Scratch DJs play in different venues, unintentionally meeting up with other fun DJ peeps who I know from school. The music was insane. Rogue, Noumenon, and Esquire are wizards! Everyone we met was so nice, so chill, so cool. No one was dressed up. No one had a shred of pretense. Just people out to have a good time. Living in a homogenous neighborhood can really bring one down. It feels stale and stifled. It can be a hard place to live, which is why I've retreated so much, burying myself in my true friends, my family, and my passions. Many DJs I've spoken to claim to be very antisocial. Despite performing in public spaces, it's a very solitary endeavor. You've got to be super focused, on your toes, aware of the crowd, and exact with counting beats. No wonder they loathe requests! By the way, loathe. Don't. Do. It. They'll put a hex on you. You live in the music, which lives in your head. When I'm interrupted while listening to something, it drives me crazy. It feels so invasive. It's like someone barging in on you while you're getting undressed.

A few months ago, I went alone to an event at my school. Different guest DJs were spinning. It was a room full of all kinds of people standing on common ground. We all knew why the other was there. Friends, strangers, colleagues, students, battle champs, it didn't matter. Everyone just showed up to hear, learn, and teach. I realized I was happier in that room full of strangers than I'd be if I was at a bar mitzvah knowing every person there. Just because someone knows you, it doesn't mean they recognize you. It was wonderful and unfamiliar to be in an environment of creativity and encouragement.

I'm 39 years old. It's crazy it took this long to experience. It shouldn't be that way. This is how things should be all the time, and I felt a bit sad that I've never lived within that. I simultaneously felt grateful that I finally had this revelation. From that moment on, I decided it's that or solitude. I like myself way too much to feel I'm surrounded by the wrong people. I always say I enjoy my own company, and I do. I don't need people as white noise. Silence is so beautiful. It's underrated. I'm not afraid of my own thoughts, I can be alone with them. And eventually, I will play them for you, and we will connect while most likely never exchanging a word. Music, like love, is universal. Sing in the shower today, or in your car. Dance while you cook. Bust a move in front of your bathroom mirror. Send a friend a song you love, like I do every week on this blog. If you listen closely, you'll feel me saying something. Just no requests please, it's super annoying. In the words of Jay Z, "If y'all got love for me,I got love for y'all. And if y'all go to war for me, I'll go to war with y'all". Oh, and watch The Defiant Ones on HBO. Tonight. 📀🎧🎼❤️, LB